Enoch, Book of

ENOCH, Book of. - Name of three different apocrypha (v.), having as their protagonist the patriarch H., distinguished according to the languages that have handed them down in the most complete form (Ethiopic, Slavonic, Hebrew).

I. ETHIOPIC "H.". - It is so called because it has been preserved in Ethiopic literature, in the ge'ez language, entire despite the vicissitudes of the double translation (into Greek, and from Greek into Ethiopic) and of manuscript transmission.

J. Bruce brought it from Abyssinia to Europe in 1773 in three copies; the other copies (a little more than 20) date from the 17th century onward, except for two or three slightly earlier. R. Laurence (Oxford 1858) published the text from three manuscripts; A. Dillmann (Leipzig 1851) from five; R. H. Charles (Oxford 1906) from twenty-three. Based on a Greek version, the Ethiopic version perhaps penetrated into Ethiopia in the 5th or 6th century, through the patriarchate of Alexandria, together with the Ethiopic Bible translated from the Septuagint.

The original text was written in Hebrew for some parts and in Aramaic for the more extensive parts (Charles). Of the Greek version (4th or 5th century) only fragments remain: 6-9, 4; 8, 4-10, 14; 15, 8-16, 1, preserved by G. Syncellus (cf. W. Dindorf, Corpus Script. hist. Byz., I, Bonn 1829, p. 19 ff.); 1-32, a fragment of the 8th century (cf. U. Bouriant, Fragments du texte grec du Livre d'Hénoch [Mémoires miss. arch. franc.], 9, Paris 1892), in contrast with Syncellus, but in agreement with the Ethiopic; 97-107, a fragment from the 5th century (Chester Beatty papyrus). Of the Latin version, only a few lines survive.

An important product of apocryphal apocalyptic literature, the H. is not an organic book, but a collection of various writings, differing in character and doctrines, with concepts about the Messiah, the judgment, gehenna, the Kingdom of heaven, and the messianic hopes of the eve. Like all apocalyptic literature (v.), it is in the form of visions and revelations; it had a broad influence on later apocalyptic literature. The person of H. (the revealer) gives a certain unity to the compilation.

As for its provenance, the existence of two earlier apocalyptic heavens appears from the text: one of H. (about ten writings) and one of Noah (fragmentary): a body of writings that would have had a distinct existence before being compiled (Lagrange). In fact one group of documents will gather around the "Elect One" (39, 6; etc.), and another around the "Son of Man" (46, 1-5; 48, 2-7, etc.). Charles discerns a principle of distinction also in the expressions "the angel who was with me" (40, 2; 46, 2, etc.: in the texts on the "Son of Man") and "the angel of peace" (40, 8-10, etc.: in the texts on the "Elect One").

A Christian provenance is to be excluded, because the messianic predictions do not go beyond the framework of the messianic ideas current among the Jews, apart from some interpolation. The Jewish origin is, on the other hand, proven by the dependence of the appellation "Son of Man" (v.)

on Daniel (7, 9-27), and it would reflect the spiritual situation of Palestinian Judaism in the era of transition to Christianity and to rabbinism.

The time of the individual writings is placed by A. Dillmann between 170 and 65 B.C.: orthodox Jews, amid countless evils, consoled themselves by turning their gaze to the future and to the unfailing avenging justice.

The book contains:

1. Introduction (1-5)

An ancient figure predicts future things, for the punishment of the wicked and for the triumph and reward of the righteous; meteorological elements as well as human and superhuman beings, according to the ideas of the time, form the setting; the visions and symbols are but veiled allusions to events that have already occurred. God descends on Sinai, a second time, surrounded by angels to punish the wicked and bless the righteous: this is the ideal and broad theme of the book. A better world is in view, a renewed Eden and primitive innocence, insofar as the desire to be united with God (1, 8) is worth as much as being under his Providence (cf. 38, 45; 48).

2. Fall of the angels (6-56)

On the origin of evil. Here the angels are blamed for the sin against nature and for having taught man the instruments of disorder: idols, the arts, war, ornaments, luxury, etc. Evil spreads, but in the end it does not prevail; the order of inanimate nature will afterward be re-established. Much emphasis is given to the universal catastrophe, to the judgment, to the tree of life, and to Jerusalem, made the center of everything. F. Martin and M.-J. Lagrange (Le Messianisme chez les Juifs, Paris 1909, v. index) assign the passage to the year 170 B.C.; Charles places it before 125.

3. Book of parables (37-71)

On the march of the powers of evil and on the hopes of Israel, to be realized on the ruins of the world, the author in three visions treats the central theme hinging on a mysterious Individual, called "Elect One," "Son of Man," "Messiah."

It is a time of struggle between the power of the flesh and the "Lord of spirits." The "Elect One," distinct from the "elect" (against Messel), is not an angel, because he is chosen to introduce humanity into the Kingdom (39, 6 ff.); he does not pre-exist, nor is he of earthly existence; he is placed above the angels, but not in a divine sphere (61, 10), and he enthuses Israel with the prospect of the Kingdom of God; his task is to judge (60, 1, etc.) through the word of the "Lord of spirits" (61, 8 ff.). The "Son of Man" combines with the Elect One for the function of judge (48, 7) and for the choice (62, 7 f.); but he differs because he pre-exists (48, 3) and because of his earthly career (48, 2-5). The "Messiah," a Christian addition according to Lagrange, raises the "Elect One" to the same level as the "Lord of spirits" (48, 10) and calls him strong and powerful on earth (70, 4). He stands beside the divine cause, not a minister and servant (according to the ideas of oriental despotism), not a viceroy (because God still reigns), but an Individual who is set over the exercise of divine justice and who, with reference to Ex. 34, 15 (cf. Is. 63, 8; Mal. 3, 1), represents God very closely.

4. Astronomical book (72-82)

On the secrets and laws of the stars. Martin is very indulgent in seeing in it essays of scientific construction. Instead, every careful observation of facts is lacking, in these remnants of traditions of popular legends.

5. Book of dreams (83-90)

It represents in symbolic manner figures and epochs of Jewish history, from Adam to Judas Maccabeus. Bulls are the patriarchs; sheep, the Israelites (from Jacob onward); wolves, the Egyptians; boars, the Edomites; lions and tigers, the Assyrians and the Chaldeans; ravens, the Syrians; men, the angels. From Judas Maccabeus the ground of history is abandoned: the world has a new center, where all nations flock under the staff of the new Adam.

6. Book of exhortation and malediction (91-108); Apocalypse of the weeks. - Idolatry reigns in the world (99, 7-14, etc.) and there are apostates (99, 2); in a bitter tone all society is threatened (99, 13) in expectation of a formidable judgment with the destruction of every existence and the inauguration of the afterlife (103, 3 ff.).

The nations are not judged for the benefit of Israel; but it is a question of the great judgment against sinners and of the awakening of the righteous up to the supreme consummation (100, 5), for the encouragement of the righteous and for the conversion of sinners (98, 4). Throughout the whole block, and even more in the little Apocalypse of the weeks (93, 91, 12-12), the epoch of the religious wars is supposed to have begun with happy results. The supposition of 152 B.C. as the time of composition is plausible.

II. SLAVONIC "H.". - It reworks the Ethiopic H. and depends on a Greek text. It is also called the Book of the Secrets of H. It contains H.'s journey through the seven celestial spheres.

The original Semitic text seems to have been composed in Palestine before the destruction of the Temple. Whether that text was Hebrew or Aramaic, the Greek translators probably derived from it two versions, the longer of which, with a Hellenistic doctrinal flavor, betrays a Jewish-Alexandrian author.

The anointing gives H. the air of a Messiah: he thus comes to exercise the mission of revealer on earth (22:8 ff., text B), revealing the secrets of heaven. He returns to heaven forever (ch. 64) and takes away the sins of the world almost as a redeemer (Charles and Morfill: «redeemer of the sins of man» [text A]: cf. nevertheless how shortly before the same book expressly denies such a doctrine [53:1: according to A and B]).

III. THE HEBREW "H.". - Written in Hebrew after the revolt of Bar Kokhba, it is called "of Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha, high priest." The latter lived in the 2nd century A.D.; but the book seems to have received its final redaction toward the end of the 3rd century.

The rabbi relates that he ascended to heaven to see the throne (marhèbha) of God, passing through the six intermediate spheres, and he encounters H. called Metatron. The idea of the ὁ μετὰ Θρόνον (Odeberg, pp. 125-42: "on him whose throne is near the throne par excellence"), does not depend on the Ethiopic or Slavonic H., but is an echo of the controversies about the Great Assistant.

Metatron is understood as God's vicar: he is named after the Lord; he has the robe of glory and the royal diadem, with the mystical letters impressed on it; he is the revealer of divine doctrine and a divine intermediary in the government of the world. Close to God, but not God; and he is not a judge (16, 2).

Emanuele da San Marco